Managing the manpower crunch

I know innovative solutions are needed to manage the talent squeeze in India. And trust Reliance Industries to find one.

According to this report, the company is now turning to its employees to fill the vacuum. Faced with a shortage of pilots to run its proposed cargo airline, Reliance has turned to its young employees and children of its older employees.

The offer is to train them and in return they would have to sign a bond to work for the company for five years. If the candidates do not join Reliance after the training or leave midway, they would have to repay the training cost which is an estimated $75,000.

The offer does not yet extend to fund education of chemical engineers. But maybe Reliance and other companies should start thinking in this direction.